NPR Executive Caught on Tape Being an Ignorant, Arrogant Liberal

Mar 8, 2011

RUSH: Look, if I’ve gotten one, I must have had a thousand e-mails from people, ‘Rush, you may not have seen this, but there’s this videotape, James O’Keefe went back in there, he got some NPR people to admit some stuff.’ I want you people to know it wounds me to the heart that you think I don’t know things. It wounds me deeply for anybody to think I might not know what’s going on in the world or in the country. We’ve all heard about this. We’ve got the sound bites from it. Another undercover tape made by the same James O’Keefe who made the ACORN tapes, and this one features what appears to be a top NPR executive, Ron Schiller. I wonder if he’s related to Vivian Schiller. She is the president and CEO, the one who canned Juan Williams. I don’t know if they’re related or not. I wouldn’t be surprised.

But at any rate, this guy makes some startling comments to people he thinks are potential Muslim donors. O’Keefe and the boys are out there pretending to be a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and NPR’s happy to meet with them. Now, I don’t know which of the things that Ron Schiller said will prove to be the most damaging. He trashes the Tea Party as racist, of course, he calls them bigoted Neanderthals, but that’s only gonna help his career at NPR. The comment that’s gonna get him into trouble is when he says that NPR could get by without federal funding. Okay, fine, then let’s defund it. If an executive at NPR says they don’t need the money then let’s just get rid of the money. Let’s just take it back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right, I’m gonna admit it. I’m gonna admit it. It’s petulant. I agree before I tell you, it’s petulant. But this is one of those days. Here we’re just starting the third hour of the program, and I have not yet played I didn’t wait audio excerpts from the secret video taken by James O’Keefe and the NPR guys as O’Keefe was pretending to be an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. I want to tell you why I’ve waited until the third hour to do this. When I sat down here at my broadcast complex today, I must have had easily a thousand e-mails — combined people I know and people I don’t know — ‘Rush, you may not have heard about this.’

Nothing gets my dander up like that. So I know now what your e-mail subject lines are gonna be. I know I’m asking for it now. ‘Rush, you may not have heard this. Rush, you’ve got to do this. This is important, this is crucial, you’ve got to start with this.’ ‘Rush, you may not have heard.’ On and on and on it went. Others telling me, ‘You have to do this first. You’ve got to!’ So my natural reaction was, ‘I’ll wait. I may decide not to do it at all. Since everybody’s heard it anyway, since everybody’s talking about it, there’s no news value in it.’ Then of course I realized that while people have heard it, they probably don’t really know what to think about it totally ’til I’ve commented on it.

So what happened was James O’Keefe and the boys snuck in there… Well, didn’t sneak in there. They arranged a luncheon and they posed as potential Muslim donors to NPR. This is back on February 22nd in Washington. They had the NPR Foundation President Ron Schiller and National Public Radio Director of Institutional Giving Betsy Liley talking with ‘Ibrahim Kasaam’ and ‘Amir Malik,’ two people posing as members of the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center. Kasaam says, ‘So you asked about our organization. We contribute to a number of orthodox Muslim schools across the US, and more recently we contributed to some universities. We were founded by few members of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, actually.’ So here is Ron Schiller, who is the NPR Foundation president.

SCHILLER: What we all believe is that if we don’t have Muslim voices in our schools, on the air… I mean it’s the same thing that we faced as a nation when we didn’t have female voices. The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian —

MALIK: Uh-huh.

SCHILLER: — and I wouldn’t even call it ‘Christian.’ It’s a weird, evangelical kind of movement. The current Republican Party is not even the Republican Party. It’s been hijacked by this group that is…

SCHILLER: And not just Islamophobic, but really xenophobic! I mean, basically they are — they are — they believe in sort of white, middle America, gun-toting. I mean, it’s pretty scary. They’re — they’re seriously racist, racist people.

RUSH: (laughing) It is so cliched. It proves, ladies and gentlemen, the greatest comedy has to have elements of truth in it. Schiller’s gestures, the way he’s gesticulating in this if you see the video, he gestures like a geisha! I mean, it’s as effeminate as it can be. (impression New Castrati) ‘Did you say, Mr. Limbaugh, that Mr. Schiller looked effeminate?’ Yes, sir, Mr. New Castrati, I sure as heck did. He looks like a geisha through all of this. He’s calling us the bitter clingers. But then did you notice hero O’Keefe and his buddy (impression), ‘You mean the radical, racist, Islamophobic Tea Party people?’ (laughing) This guy falls in the trap!

But, this is where this is dangerous. I mean let’s go back here to the beginning of this sound bite. This NPR schlub, ‘What we all believe is that if we don’t have Muslim voices in our schools on the air, it’s the same thing as we faced as a nation when we didn’t have female voices.’ So just right there: You women, this is how NPR looks at you and your issues. Then he says, ‘The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian — and I wouldn’t even call it ‘Christian.’ It’s a weird, evangelical kind of movement. The current Republican Party is not even the Republican Party. It’s been hijacked by this group…’

I wonder, Mr. Schiller, have you ever heard of Sharia? Mr. Schiller, you’re the biggest dupe on the face of the earth. You are the classic illustration of ‘useful idiot.’ You are on full display here as an absolute sponge. Have you ever heard of Sharia law and what it is? Do you have any curiosity? Go look it up, Mr. Schiller. Check out Sharia law. You want to say the Tea Party is ‘fanatically involved in people’s personal lives,’ fundamental Christian? Ho! By the way, Mr. Schiller, do Muslim outlets have a lot of female voices, especially those under Sharia law? I mean… The New Castrati seem to be breeding, because this Schiller guy is a new cast ready. ‘Are you insulting us New Castrati people, Mr Limbaugh?’

Well, no, I’m just describing how you are. You’re like geishas. You gesticulate like you’re effeminate. I mean, the guy’s a walking cliche. And here he’s at NPR. He thinks he’s one of the most erudite, one of the smartest, one of the elite, ruling class. This guy’s the real smart guy. (impression) ‘You mean the radical, racist, Islamophobic, Tea Party people?’ (laughing) ‘And not just Islamophobic, xenophobic!’ (laughing) This NPR schlub is sitting here and he’s seeing visions of a $5 million donation there. So Kasaam then says (impression), ‘Well, we’ve seen like certainly how the Muslim Brotherhood, for example, has been portrayed, you know? I’m glad that NPR will give voice to people — and PBS as well. You know, I’m glad they put Rashid Khalidi on to give the point of view and will give the Hamas and Hezbollah view, in addition to the Israel view.’

SCHILLER: (haltingly) Now, I’ll talk personally as opposed to wearing my NPR hat. It feels to me as though there’s a real anti-intellectual mood on the part of a significant part of the Republican Party. You know, in my personal opinion liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced. I am most disturbed by and disappointed by in this country, which is that the educated, so-called elite in this country is — is too small a percentage of the population so that you have this very large uneducated part of the population that — that carries these ideas. It’s — it’s much more about anti-intellectualism than it is about a political, eh… as a university also, by definition, is considered in the country to be liberal, even though it’s not at all liberal. It’s liberal because it’s intellectual.

RUSH: Again, that’s Ron Schiller. That’s restaurant noise. That’s Ron Schiller, who’s head of the National Public Radio Foundation. He’s the president. There are not enough intellectuals out there, too many bitter clingers. The so-called elite is too small a percentage of the population. ‘This movement is more about anti-intellectualism.’ There is a brilliant British historian by the name of Paul Johnson. He was interviewed recently, I think Wall Street Journal, I’m not sure. I think it was Wall Street Journal. Doesn’t matter where. Nobody needs to send me where it was. What he said is what’s important. He praised people like Sarah Palin for being like Margaret Thatcher. Courage.

Without courage, all the ideas in the world are worthless, he said. You have to have the courage to stand behind, without the courage to implement them, and during the interview, the guy talking to Paul Johnson said, ‘You know, you really sound like an intellectual.’ (paraphrased) ‘No! No, no, no. I’m not an intellectual.’ The interviewer was stunned. ‘Why not?’ ‘Intellectuals put ideas before people. That’s not good. People come before ideas,’ and what he means by that is: People are just pawns on a game board, pawns of a chess board. They can be moved around or what have you. They’re not real, especially if they’re not of the proper class. So Mr. Johnson is talking about ideas are fine and dandy, but people come first.

And leaders who motivate and inspire people with courage, those are the great leaders. He wasn’t even talking about this guy Schiller, I’m just extrapolating here, but this guy Schiller is not a leader of anything. He’s a coward. He’s an effeminate little waif sitting up there waxing eloquent about how woe is the country because not everybody is as smart as he is — while he’s being duped! He’s in the middle of being duped here by a couple of people who have set him up royally. All the things he said are inflammatory and they are harmful, but the next is what is going to get him in trouble. This next is what he’s going to really regret about all this. ‘Cause after talking about all the anti-intellectualism and not enough smart people, so forth and so on — remember, now, these two posers here, posing as an offshore shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood want to give NPR $5 million or some such thing, so Schiller then continues.

SCHILLER: (haltingly) Republicans play off of the belief among the general population that most of our funding comes from the government. Very little of our funding comes from the government, but they act as though all of it comes from the government. It’s about 10% of the total station economy. The total station economy is about $800 million a year, and about $90 million comes from the federal government. Frankly, it is very clear that we would be better off in the long run without federal funding.

RUSH: That is what’s gonna come back and bite his tiny little geisha ah — uh, butt. We’d be better off without federal funding. Ha! Now, he’s out there admitting it, but his excuse will be, ‘Well, look, I’m trying to separate $5 million from these guys.’ Of course I’m gonna tell ’em — but this, behind closed doors, this is what’s gonna gnaw at this guy’s geisha butt, I guarantee you. You’re listening here to the intellectual Ron Schiller. So next, Kasaam and Schiller have this exchange about Jewish people.

KASAAM: Jews do kind of control the media. I mean, or at least certainly the Zionists and then the people that have the interests in swaying media coverage toward a favorable direction of Israel. But since, you know, Palestine — the Palestinian — Palestinian viewpoint is — yeah, the redeye. The Palestinian viewpoint, since NPR is one of the few places that has the courage to really present it, there’s kind of a joke; we used to call it the ‘National Palestinian Radio.’

ALL: (haughty laughter)

LILEY: Oh, really? That’s good. I like that.

KASAAM: I’m not too upset about maybe a little bit less Jew influence, influence of Jewish money on NPR, but Zionist coverage has been quite substantial elsewhere, so… But…

SCHILLER: I don’t actually find it at NPR.

KASAAM: What, exactly?

SCHILLER: The Zionist or — or pro-Israel, even among funders.

KASAAM: Nobody, really —

SCHILLER: No.

KASAAM: — pro-Israel?

SCHILLER: I mean it’s there in those who own newspapers, obviously, but no one owns NPR, so I actually, I don’t find it.

RUSH: Mr. Schiller has just said that there’s a Jewish domination in people who own newspapers. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Now, this coupled… (interruption) Yeah, he said Jews control the media except at NPR. Jews control the media except at NPR. Remember, now, he’s being duped here by a couple weeks ago pretending to be Muslims, so of course he’s gonna exempt NPR from being ‘controlled by the Jews,’ but the rest of the media is controlled by the Jews. Ron Schiller — this brilliant, unique, gee-wish-we-had-more-people-like-him intellectual, head honcho of the NPR foundation — hears, ‘Jews do kind of control the media.

‘I mean, or at least certainly the Zionists and then the people that have the interests in swaying media coverage toward a favorable direction of Israel. But since, you know, Palestine — the Palestinian — Palestinian viewpoint is — yeah, the redeye. The Palestinian viewpoint, since NPR is one of the few places that has the courage to really present it, there’s kind of a joke; we used to call it the ‘National Palestinian Radio.” Ha-ha-ha, ha-ha! Oh, really? That’s good, I like that! ‘I’m not too upset about maybe a little bit less Jew influence, influence of Jewish money on NPR, but Zionist coverage has been quite substantial elsewhere, so…’

‘Well, I don’t actual find it at NPR. Zionist, pro-Israel, even among funders. It’s there in those who own the newspapers, obviously, but no one owns NPR. So I actually don’t find it.’ Now, who was it that caught hell the other day saying this? (interruption) Oh, I’m sure Abe Foxman is on this. By the time this is all over, I will be the one who said this. (laughing) Abe Foxman’s gonna send me a letter demanding an apology. Oh, sure! I’m the one who will end up having said all this. Vivian Schiller is Jewish who runs all of PBS. Vivian Schiller is; Ron Schiller might be, too, for all I know. Who was it…? Who was it who caught hell recently for saying this kind of stuff? I can’t recall.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, yesterday afternoon at the Washington Press Club, National Press Club, the National Public Radio president, CEO Vivian Schiller spoke about the future of public broadcasting. Q&amp;A. Reporter said, ‘Do you believe there’s an imbalance at NPR in terms of liberals and conservatives in the newsroom? I think I know which side they like to have better represented there. If the answer’s ‘yes,’ what do you propose to do about it?’

SCHILLER: I will tell you that it maybe doesn’t get as much attention, but we get a tremendous amount of criticism for being too conservative as well. So for those that do criticize us for being liberal, you know, I ask them when I get that personally, I ask them to point to specific stories, and when they do we take those very seriously.

RUSH: Yeah.

SCHILLER: Have we erred? Absolutely —

RUSH: Yeah.

SCHILLER: — we have erred in the past.

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

SCHILLER: But we made corrections, and we always strive to do better.

RUSH: Right. And another question was, ‘How high would you say the risk is from ultimately the deficit-cutting environment that seems to be pervasive in Washington right now. How great is the risk to your enterprise, as well as those interested in your well being?’

SCHILLER: It is a very significant risk, and it’s a risk to all of public broadcasting. We take this very, very seriously. It would have a profound impact, we believe, on our ability, of public broadcasting’s ability to deliver cultural programming in the arts to the audience.

RUSH: She basically came out and said that federal funds are critical. The Schiller guy said, the truth be known, we don’t need federal funds, he said to the two guys pretending to be Muslims. So the full NPR statement on all this has now been released from Dana Davis Rehm, senior vice president of marketing, communications, and external relations. ‘The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept. We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for. Mr. Schiller announced last week that he is leaving NPR for another job.’ So Schiller’s gonna have to go find another group of intellectuals to hang around. NPR has responded, and he’s gone.

She was responding to, among other things, Schiller saying: ‘The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn’t even call it Christian. It’s this weird evangelical kind of move.’ Racist, racist people. So Schiller is leaving. He’s going to the Aspen Institute. They referenced his recently announced departure for the Aspen Institute. Mr. Schiller announced last week he’s leaving NPR for another job, The Aspen Institute. I was trying to think, who recently got chewed out for lighting into the Jews? It was Charlie Sheen. Before that, Rick Sanchez, anybody heard from him since he went into his anti-Jewish rant on somebody’s radio show or television show? So, at any rate, I think it’s Walter Isaacson that runs The Aspen Institute. He used to run TIME Magazine, took a turn at CNN, although it might be there’s a bunch of Aspen things. This might not be Isaacson’s where Schiller is going.